DE2249738A1 - DOCUMENT PROCESSING ARRANGEMENT - Google Patents

Description

Please state our reference in the answer

I / p 7519

IM'EHITATIONAL COMPUTERS LIMITED, ICL House, Putney, London, SW15,. . ; England

Document processing arrangement

The invention relates to document processing arrangements, in particular those document processing devices in which a feed device can be actuated as a function of read commands in order to feed documents one after the other along a document movement path advance, which is able to a certain number of documents to a reading device at the same time transport.

Document processing arrangements in which documents such as punch cards, bank checks, etc. from a card feeder magazine are transported past a reading station and to one or a large number of document forklifts or storage compartments, are known. With the many years of development of such arrangements, the speed has been increased, with which such documents can be transported. Nowadays, arrangements can be made that contain 1200 to 1600 documents

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per minute using a technique of "free-flying" document processing. With this technique are several documents in motion at the same time, while three or four documents between the card feeder magazine and the Reading station can be in motion at any time.

However, since a document, once it has been fed in, is advanced independently of an instruction initiating the feeding, there is a need for subsequent identification and Re-synchronization of the reading of data from the receipt with the rest of the facility. For example, if a feed instruction is terminated by a control device, several documents already have this at the same time Leave the card feed magazine on the way to the reading station, and it is then necessary to ensure that the documents which are already in motion are read out, thus preventing the data on such documents will be lost. Even if a display device with the reading station it is intended that Tim lay that the reading station unread happen to indicate, the performance of the arrangement is reduced by the fact that unread documents are detected must be, and that a new feed-read-batch cycle must be carried out for a few documents.

According to the invention, in a document processing arrangement, one device for successively feeding receipts, one device for reading receipts and one receipt feed track, the a predetermined number of documents one after the other between the feed device and the reading device can accommodate, and a device for generating a Sequence of reading instructions, each of which is to be assigned to a different document, proposed that a multi-level Buffer memory is connected so that it receives read instructions and received instructions from stage to stage in the memory from a first stage to a last stage that a device leads the final stage with the reading device connects to the instruction in the final stage corresponding to the

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Document is to be assigned to the reading device, to read, and that means for blocking the supply of receipts is assigned to the buffer when the buffer has a contains a certain number of instructions corresponding to the number of documents that are simultaneously on the document path can be transported.

The invention is explained below in conjunction with the drawing using an exemplary embodiment which schematically a multiple buffer arrangement in a receipt processing device shows.

In the drawing, a document reading device is shown apparently by a document feed magazine 14, a reading station 13 and a document feed track I5. The reading device is of a conventional type, in which a document 1 is presented to the feed path 15 by the feed magazine mechanism 14 in response to an instruction initiating the feed. The feed path 15 leads the fed document 1 along the path I5 to the reading station I3, where the data recorded by the document are read out, and then to a document stacking arrangement (not shown). The feed path I5 between the magazine 14 and the reading station 15 is sufficiently long designed so that, for example, four documents 1-4 can be recorded. The feed magazine preferably operates cyclically and causes a continuous feed signal to be given up. the repeated feeding of successive documents from the magazine 14 to the lane I5. Under these circumstances, a series of slips occurs on the web. In the special arrangement shown here, the fact that the feed track can accommodate four documents means that the first document 1 reaches the reading station 13 at a point in time at which the fourth document is fed or is being fed. A document feeder of this type is disclosed in US Pat

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Technique known and the receipts can be placed along the path 15 e.g. are transported by pairs of .Zufungsrolle or by air jets, the form of the web 15 guides step out.

The reading station 13 consists, for example, of a block 5 of photoelectric sensors, which are controlled by a light source, so that data on the documents 1 to are entered, are sensed. The reading station 13 also has a reading control 7 which is designed so that it specifies when a document is to be read out, and that the data representations that are sensed are a desired one Determination via output conductor, e.g. the conductors 16-20 can be assigned. To display the start of a reading process it is advisable to provide an additional sensor in block 5, which is arranged, for example, that it displays the leading edge of a document on the web.

The voucher reading device is designed to read data results from the documents 1 to 4 to a data processing device with e.g. a controller 24 and a Reads out data memory 22. The reading device is a

• buffer

Auxiliary control unit 11 and a reading structure 12 assigned. The buffer store 12 is a "stack" or "basement" store with a number of stages I-IV, in In the present case, four corresponding to the number of documents I - IV, which are on the feed track 15 between the feed magazine 14 and the reading station 13 are recorded can. The buffer memory is designed in such a way that it receives read instructions from the processing control 24 via the control unit 11 in stage I. One on The instruction introduced in this way in level I reaches the last empty level, as shown in the drawing or to stage IV, when all stages are empty. A

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Memory with a sequence of stages working this way are arranged is "for example the" British patent specification Ur. 917-853 and contains the control unit 11 also the necessary common network for control the passage of the instructions through the memory 12. Within this network is a marking device M intended; For the sake of simplicity, it is shown assigned to stage I .des buffer memory 12 in the drawing. The marking device M is typically a monitor egg ip-Fl op, which is assigned to level I, thus an output display is achieved when level I does not actually contain a read instruction. The initial display is with a Zuführungssperreinri rectification 29 connected to the document reading device, which can simply be a relay designed so is that it prevents, for example, the operation of the document feed mechanism.

Output conductor 26 from stage IV of buffer memory 12 are connected to the reading control arrangement 7 of the reading station 13. The actual content of a read instruction depends on the way in which data expressions are sent by a receipt are sensed in a specific data processing device be treated. For example, it may be necessary to have a read instruction should specify the determination for data from the document, or that it consists of identification information, which is compared with the data from the receipt or perhaps combined with this data. The way in which the reading control 7 is designed to process the data scanned from the document is provided by the Determines the manner in which the read instruction is to be used in the respective processing device. It is often, for example, it is necessary that all information, extracted from the scanned documents via a block of storage locations within the

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Main data memory 22 of the processing device is distributed and in this case the output conductors 16-20 will be off the block 5 of the sensor with the memory locations A-E des Data memory 22 connected. The data removed is then distributed, for example, by a control line 23 controlled from the control unit 11. In such a case the output line 26 does not need address selection data respectively. If the reading instruction from level IV of the Buffer memory 12, however, the determination of the sensed Is to set data, the read control 7 is connected designed with the control unit 11 in such a way that it selects the corresponding output conductors 16 - 20 from the sensor block 5.

During operation, read instructions are taken from the main memory taken from the data processing arrangement and these instructions are transferred to the read buffer memory via the control unit 11 12 abandoned. The read instructions are stacked in the read buffer memory 12, placing each instruction in the first Level I of the buffer memory 12 introduced and the introduced instruction then in the buffer memory 12 in the highest numbered free level is carried out. While the first stage I is empty, the marking device M stops that stage is assigned, their signal to the locking device 29 upright, so that the feed of a document is prevented · If so the first instruction passes the first stage I, the output disable signal is temporarily removed and the feeder of the first document I made possible, the fed document being introduced into the feed path 15. If subsequent Instructions get into the buffer memory 12, their passage through the first stage I causes a corresponding Document is introduced into the web 15 in a similar manner. Thus, if all stages I - IV contain instructions, the marking device M ceases to block the feed and as long as instructions continue to get into the buffer memory so that it remains full, the supply of takes place

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Occupy continuously. When the buffer memory is full, as many documents 1-4 pass the feed track 15, how filled stages are present in the buffer store 12.

When the first document 1 has reached the reading station 13, its presence is displayed and a. The resulting signal causes the instruction now in stage IV of the buffer memory to be read out into the read control 7. The readout of stage IV has the effect that all instructions in the buffer memory 12 are advanced by one stage. If no new instruction is introduced into stage I at this point in time, the marking device M again generates the feed blocking signal in order to prevent the feed of receipts. However, the display of the subsequent documents from the feed path 15 by the reading station causes the subsequent instructions to be read out from the buffer memory IV, each instruction being assigned to the document which was introduced into the feed path 15 when the instruction was originally introduced into the buffer memory 12 . By stacking the required reading instructions in the reading buffer 12, the data on documents on the Zuführungslbahn 15 are not lost because these documents all have corresponding reading instructions that are then reassigned when the documents are read out again at the reading station 15. As a result, when the buffer storage arrangement described is used, the feed magazine 14 and the reading station IJ need not be synchronized. The display of a status "ready for reading ¹¹ at the reading station 13 enables this station to exercise control over the shifting of instructions from the buffer memory 12" provided that there are enough levels in the buffer memory

12 are available for those read instructions that relate to all documents that may be on the feed path 15 between the magazine 14 and the reading station

13 can be present, each receipt is when reading the

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assigned to the correct instruction. At the same time, the buffer store 12 should preferably not have more stages than required for receipts 1-4 on infeed track I5 so that the buffer store 12 can be kept in a full state so that the supply is continuous, as long as instructions continue to be introduced into control unit 11.

The manner in which the data read from the documents 1-4 by the reading station 13 is processed depends on the specific organization of the data processing device to which the document reading device is assigned. It is not uncommon for such data to be required by a processing device of a computer, in which case it is often suggested that a portion of the main data memory 22 be used to act as an input buffer for the processing device. Under these conditions, the arrangement shown in the drawing can be used, and the data which are read out at the reading station 13 are then fed in via sections AE of the data memory 22 corresponding to conductors 16-20. The sensor devices 5 ai ^> station 13 can then be connected one after the other via the reading controller 7 to conductors 16-20, so that the data that are read from a single document are sent to a section of the data memory 22 via a special line For example, the data read out from the document 1 are given over the line 16 to a section A of the data memory 22, while the data read out from the document 2 are given over the line 17 to the memory section B. At the same time, control signals that are generated by the control unit 11 can be applied via the line 23 so that data that are stored in the sections AE can be extracted therefrom and read into the processing device via the control 2Λ. The sections AE can thus be emptied cyclically by applying control signals to dt? R

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Line 23 address each storage section one after the other. The cyclical control of the selection of lines 16r-20 and The extraction of data from the stages A-E of the memory 22 can, for example, be achieved by the cyclic energization of selection conductors can be achieved, whereby the required control signals are successively transmitted to the conductors, e.g. via a counter or any other signal generating device · within the control device 11 are abandoned.

Since the read instructions from the controller 24- the data processing device are derived, the overall control of the document reading arrangement comes from this external control 24 · The controller 24 would therefore normally oppose read requests by generating read instructions be locked, which is when the capacity of the buffer memory overloaded by the sections. A-E of the memory 22 is shown results. The overall operation of a processing facility is controlled by de Program equipment in the form of a program controlled by instructions, and the buffer memory sections A-E and the Read buffer memory 12 can be through special areas of an individual data memory of the data processing device being represented. Similarly, the controller may appear as a separate device for simplicity of illustration also form part of the overall control of the facility.

In other modes of operation it results that the data processing device Makes reading operations necessary so that the data read from the documents other peripheral Institutions instead of using such data directly in their own calculations. In the same Thus, the document reading device itself can produce control instructions that regulate the operation of the device. In

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In such cases, the reading instructions Contain data, e.g. addresses, to which data read from a document should be supplied. That way will the read control 7 is designed in such a way that it responds to the read instruction derived from the stage IV of the read buffer memory 12 responds, so that a conventional address decoding process is carried out to either select a corresponding output line from the sensor block 5 or - if for example the data from block 5 of a common Multiple lines are abandoned - from the instruction address select a gate network in order to feed the output data from block 5 to the required evaluation device. In In the same way, the address data can on the other hand be included in the data that is read from the receipt the address data are then fed into a decoding network in order to derive the required address is delayed while the other - ^ esedata and then into the desired destination can be introduced. The delay can either be achieved by adding delay elements are switched into the data path, or that the data are initially stored on an i \ iffer memory arrangement, e.g. levels A-E of the data buffer memory 22 are distributed. The address data is then used to determine the destinations that for reading out data from the memory 22 are required.

While the inventive arrangement has been described as having just as many stages I-IV in the read buffer has that a separate reading instruction can be received for as many documents as on the feed path 15 at the same time can be included, it is possible to increase the number of stages so that, for example, a line of Instructions is formed. The marking device M is then assigned to an intermediate stage so that the number of

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Steps between the marking device and the exit end of the buffer memory is sufficient to hold gene instructions which correspond to the receipts on the infeed track. It is also necessary to use a lock to ensure that is, if a sequence of read instructions can be generated without interruption, the feed of receipts is blocked early enough, so that, for example, when the output data buffer from the reading station 13 becomes full, there is still enough space left for data to be recorded which is then actually on the feed track I5 located documents are read out. Thus there is a comparison between the speed with the data is read from the output buffer memory, and the number of documents fed (including those on the feed path), and a controller can be used of feeding operations is achieved by using a counter which, for example, advances in one direction when a data printout is read out, and in the other direction advances when a document is fed will. When the counter has a capacity equal to the number of receipts that will be picked up on the infeed track can, a feed blocking signal can be dependent generated by the counter exceeding capacity. This counter can also be used in such operating modes * can be used in place of the marking device M to control the locking of the feeder.

* like F ^ ο v '<~ -i "t <". r mentioned above beef,

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BATH

Claims (8)

October 9, 1972 W / He - 12 - I / p 7519 Patent claims: (li Document processing device in which a feed device can be actuated as a function of reading instructions in order to advance documents one after the other along a document movement path which is able to transport a certain number of documents to a reading device at the same time, characterized in that a multi-level buffer store (12 ) is connected in such a way that it accepts read instructions and leads recorded instructions from stage to stage in the buffer memory from a first stage (I) to a last stage (IT) that a device (26) connects the final stage (IV) with the reading device ( 13) connects in order to read out the instruction in the final stage (IV) that is to be assigned to the document (1) at the reading device (13), and that a device (M, 29) for blocking the supply of documents to the buffer memory (12 ) is assigned and is actuated when the buffer memory (12) contains a certain number of instructions corresponding to the number of receipts lt, which can be transported on the document track (15) at the same time. 2. Device nach'Anspruch 1, characterized in that the reading device (13) a device (5)? which indicates that a document is currently being read, and a control unit (11) which is responsive to the display for reading an instruction from the final stage (IV). 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the buffer memory (12) only the number of stages (I-1V) contains which corresponds to the number of documents (1-4) which have been recorded simultaneously on the document path (11) can, and that a marking device (M) is assigned to the first stage (1) and can be actuated when the first stage (I) no instruction to generate an output signal 309816/0856 October 9, 1972 W / He - 13 - Ι / ρ 7519 contains, wherein a feed blocking device (29) on the output signal responds and blocks the actuation of the feed device (14-). . 4-. Device according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that data output lines (16-20) are connected to the Reading device (13) are connected, and that a control device (7, 11) selects one of the data output lines (16-20) for carrying data signals that. from the reading device (13) can be derived from the documents (1-4-). 5. Device according to claim 4-, characterized in that a data output memory (22) has a number of storage locations (AE), each of which is connected to a data output line (l6y20), and that the control device (7 ₅ H) the data output lines (16 -20) to fill the memory locations (AE) in cyclical order with data from the documents (1-4-). 6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the control device (7, 11) scans the memory locations (A-E), which are to be read out in the same cyclical order as in the one in which they were filled are. 7. Device according to one of claims 1-3? through this characterized in that an instruction read out from the final stage (IV) has address information that the Data output lines are connected to the reading device (13), and that the control device (7, 11) has a data output line in accordance with the address information to carry data signals derived from the receipts (1-4-) can be derived. 309816/0856 October 9, 1972 W / He - 14 - I / p 7519 8. Device according to one of claims 1 to 3> characterized in that the data received by the documents (1-4) contain address information that the data output lines with the reading device (13) are va ±> unden, and that a stevedore device (7> 11) selects a data output line in accordance with the address information, which is derived from the documents (1-4) by the reading device (13). 309816/0856